Water heater



May 16, 1944- A H. E. HANDLEY 2,348,901

WATER HEATER Filed July l1, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet l SA "Hf Il l I v l l] www I A Q .v 6 N a Q n 1 K May 16, 1944, H. E. HANDLEY WATER HEATER Filed July ll, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. I

mw, M, @wwdmb Patented May 1944 PATENT WATER HEATER Y 'Application .Vnly lli, 194i, Serial No. @2,043

d (Claims.

This invention relates to water heaters.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an elcientlyconstructed water heater in which the problems of condensation are solved without the usual elaborate designs.

A further object or the invention has to do with the provisionl of a novel nue arrangement which takes heat from the burner gases and transmits it to the water to be heated.

Other objects and features of the invention, i having to do with details of construction of the bames and the assembly, will appear as the descriptionA proceeds.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a vertical section through the tank taken on line i-i of Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2 2W` of Fig. l. u

Fig. 3 isa horizontal section of the flue tube taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1. 20

Fig. 4 shows respective views of portions of the flue tube illustrating the manner in which it is constructed.

In the drawings, a tank IB has a bottom Il, a

top l2, an inlet pipe I3 and an outlet pipe I4. 25

A suitable casing l5 with insulation surrounds the tank leaving a chamber I6 at the bottom in which is housed a burner I1 with a supply pipe it. l 9 is a thermostat. A suitable control mechanism is shown diagrammatically at 26. 'Ex- 30 tending through the tank I0 and projecting from each end thereof is a tube of relatively thin heat conducting corrosive resistant metal. The inside of this tube is sealed from the water tank. The tube is positioned directly over the 35 burners I1 and has a diameter slightly greater than the burner. At the top of the tube a ue shield 26 is provided.

Within the tube cast iron bailles are provided. These baflles -are shown in Fig. 4 as composed of 40 outer half cylinders 21 and inner half cylinders 28 connected by radial webs 29. The webs indicated at are arranged to contact with the open edges of the half cylinders of an adjacent baille, to close the segmental space between the 45 web 30 and the next web 29. The two bailles indicated in Fig. 4 form a cylinder which has an outer diameter equal to the inner diameter of tube 25. Eight of these baiiles are arranged in stacked relation Within the tube 25 and each 50 tier of bales is rotated relative to the adjacent tiers so that the greatest possible contact with ue gases wilLbe obtained. This is illustrated in Fig. 3 which is a section of Fig. 1 looking down on two tiers of baiiles. The webs shown at 29 65 (ci. ias-3c) and 30 are in section and the webs shown at 29a and 30a are those of the bame immediately below the sectioned baille.

It will be noted that each bale is actually o semi-circular in cross section so that when placed together the end bames 3B are located on opposite sides of a diametric line, as illustrated particularly in Fig. 3.

A rod passes down through the center cylinder formed by the bafiles, the lower end being embedded in a ceramic orrefractory cylinder and cone 36 located in the lower end of tube 25 directly above the burner. The top of rod 35 is held by a nut 31 contacting a spanning member 38 fastened to the top of tube 25. The cone f 36 closes the lower end of. the inner baille cylinder.

In the operation of the heater, the flame of the burner lmpinges directly on the refractory insert 36 and produces a sufficiently high temperature on the inner surface of tube 25 that condensation is eliminated. The heat in this area is so intense that it is beyond the conductivity of the tube. The baiiles then take the flue gases, and, through the great surface contacted, remove the heat therefrom and condut it to the tube 25 where the water absorbs it. No condensation products `are allowed to come in contact with the direct heating surface since the baffles, through the cylinders formed thereby, effectively seal the inner surface of tube 25 from the ue gases.

I claim:

l. A bale construction 'for the heater tube of a domestic water heater, including a series of bailies in said tube, each comprising two concentric lialf cylinders of cast iron joined by a plurality of radial webs and arranged in pairs in stacked relation with the webs of each tier of baiiies being arranged at angles with adjacent baiiies, and a refractory body suspended from said baffles in contact with the inner cylinder formed thereby and concentric with said tube.

2. .A baflie construction for the heater tube of a domestic water heater, including a series of bailies in saidvtube, each comprising two concentric half cylinders of cast iron joined by a plurality of radial webs and arranged in pairs in stacked relation with the webs of each tier of baies being arranged at angles with adjacent bellies, and a refractory body suspended from said baiiies in contact with and closing the lower end oi' the inner cylinder formed thereby and concentric with said tube.

3. A baille construction for a domestic water heater, comprising a series of bailes in a tube, each comprising two concentric half cylinders of cast iron joined by a plurality oi radial webs and arranged in pairs in stacked relation with the webs of each tier of bailles being arranged at angles with adjacent baies, and a refractory body suspended from said bailies in contact with and closing the lower end of the inner cylinder formed thereby and concentric with and within said tube directly above the heating element of the heater.

4. A bame construction for a domestic water heater, including a series of baifles in a tube,

, spaced.

each comprising two concentric half cylinders of cast iron joined by a plurality of radial webs and arranged in pairs in stacked relation with the webs of each tier of bamea being arranged at angles with adjacent bailles, and a refractory body suspended from said bailles and concentric with said tube directly above the heating element ad oi the heater, the outer dimensions or the body being larger than the diameter of the inner cylinder formed by said haines.

5. A baille construction for a domestic water heater, comprising a thin metal tube, and a series of names in said tube each comprising concentric cylinders of cast iron joined by a plurality o! radial webs, said cylinders being arranged in tiers and in rotated relation whereby the radial webs or each vertically adjacent baille are angularly 6. A bale construction for a domestic water heater, comprising a thin metal tube. and a series of baliles in said tube each baille comprising two concentric khalf cylinders of cast iron material joined by a plurality of radial webs and arranged in horizontal pairs in stacked relation with the webs of each pair of bailies being arranged at angles with vertically adjacent bames. 

